War of the Skies
by RussianBear117
Summary: (This has nothing to do with sky crawlers. I watched the movie and got my idea from it) In the far future there is a war going on between two opposing powers TOU Tyranny of Unions and the FOI Federation of Independence. TOU is trying to conquer and the FOI is stopping them. In this series we will follow different pilots as they fight and try to survive through this everlasting war.
1. Chapter 1

War of the Skies

Chapter 1

"This is boring," Amy said.

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes, ignoring the 100th stupid comment that Amy said. She concentrated back on the mission, to scout over FOI (Federation of Independence) airspace. So far no TOU (Tyranny of Unions) planes been sited. She and Amy are the only ones out here; she would hate to run into a squad of TOU bastards.

"TOU has created so many planes and shit, and we've only created one stinking plane" thought Kaitlyn.

"Humph," groaned Amy in boredom.

Kaitlyn gripped the joystick tightly in frustration, annoyed at all the things Amy did. She turned her head so that Amy could see her in the mirror and said "will you shut up, before I eject you from your seat".

"You wouldn't do it".

"You wanna test me".

"Sure I know you; you wouldn't eject one of your comrades if your life depended on it".

Kaitlyn looked at Amy with an evil glare, jaw clenched. Amy just stared back eyebrow raised and with a teasing smirk. Amy stared a few more seconds then looked up in the mirror and her eyes widened.

"Oh shit".

Amy then looked down to her gun and started to prep it up.

Kaitlyn confused turned around and looked to where Amy looked. Her eyes widened also. A convoy of 4 Colosos-758 bombers, 3 Hurricane-88s, 2 Borkan-1s, and 1 Thunderbolt-61 fighters. Kaitlyn quickly checked all systems.

"C'mon we can take them, no problem".

Kaitlyn glanced back at Amy, shocked at what she said. "I knew you had guts but I didn't think you would want to do this".

"I haven't shot anything in weeks, and this would be fun," Amy said with a little smile on her face.

Kaitlyn thought about that, it's true they haven't shot down anything in weeks but its 6-1 not including the bombers.

"C'mon Katie we can do it," Amy pleaded.

Kaitlyn hesitated then turned the plane in the other direction.

"Ha I knew it was just rumors," Amy said while disarming her gun.

Kaitlyn's face turned red, but kept silent all the way to the airbase in Kasempa. When they arrived at the base they scanned around to see what shape it was in. The 2 hangers, living quarters, HQ, and communications outpost was in good shape. Four planes were stationed in the airbase, two in front of each hanger. Kaitlyn recognized one Kalash-5 that's in front of hanger 2 and the three other planes she doesn't recognize.

"FOI airbase this is Staff Sergeant Kaitlyn Morrow do we have clearance to land over," Kaitlyn said into her comm.

"Staff Sergeant Kaitlyn Morrow you have clearance to land over, welcome to Beta-8," responded a female voice.

Kaitlyn maneuvered into a semi-circle then dropped down and landed onto the tarmac in front of hanger 1 behind the two new planes.

"Not much of a welcoming committee," exclaimed Amy.

Kaitlyn looked to her right and saw two figures coming. As they approached closer, Kaitlyn knew they were guys, by the way they were walking, and how they stood when they waited for them. Kaitlyn and Amy climbed out of their plane and walked towards the two guys.

"Welcome to airbase Beta-8, I'm Private Riley Lawrence," said the guy on the right.

As Kaitlyn and Riley shook hands she noticed a pair of golden wings attached to his shoulder.

"So you're the ace around here," she said.

Riley looks to his wings and while adjusting one says "Why yes I am, shot down 31 planes so far".

"Impressive," Amy remarked.

Riley nodded to her.

"And this is Private Chris Whiteely," Riley says while introducing the other guy.

"Yo," Chris says unenthusiastic ally.

"Hello I'm Staff Sergeant Kaitlyn Morrow and this is Specialist Amy Chen," said Kaitlyn shaking Chris's hand.

"Before I show you around our glorious base, to make things clear I'm showing you who is stationed here. You can go around and explore yourselves and ask for help and so on and so forth, ok," Riley said.

Kaitlyn and Amy looked at each other then nodded their heads.

Riley began to give his tour around the base, while Chris on the other hand went straight to the living quarters.

"What's up with him," Amy said while lighting a cigarette.

"Oh don't mind him, he likes to be alone a lot," Riley said while staring after him.

Riley first began with hanger 1, the main hanger. As they were approaching the main the doors Amy asked "What types of planes are these?"

"Oh you haven't seen these yet?" he asked.

"No, we've been moving from base to base and haven't had time to catch up with new installments," Kaitlyn responded.

"Well these planes," knocking on the side "we got them a week ago, there called Bardock-5," Riley said.

"How do they fly?" Amy asked while exhaling a cloud of smoke.

"Well... there ok. Not as fast as the Kalash, but can take more damage".

Riley then continued for a few meters then reached the hanger and met up with other members.

"Brett, Emily, and Megan I like to introduce you to Staff Sergeant Kaitlyn Morrow and Specialist Amy Chen".

Three people approached them. One obviously a pilot and the other two mechanics( the guy had blue hair).

"Interesting," muttered Kaitlyn.

"Beg pardon," said the women pilot

"Oh, I was just curious as to why so many different hair colors that I've seen so far," said Kaitlyn.

The male mechanics glances at his hair and chuckles.

"Well what else can you do," said the male mechanic.

"Back on task," Riley interrupts "This is Brett Van Rooyen," pointing to the male mechanic.

"Hello," he says smiling.

"This is Brett's wife Emily Van Rooyen," pointing to the other mechanic.

"Just call me M, everybody does".

"And this is Private First Class Megan Armstrong," pointing lastly to the pilot.

"Ma'am," she salutes.

A cough is heard behind Kaitlyn, interrupting Riley. Kaitlyn glances back and immediately stand at attention; Megan, Amy and Riley do the same.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?"

"Oh right; Kaitlyn, Amy this Commander Kelsey leader of this airbase," Riley said.

Kelsey and Kaitlyn shook hands, locking gazes for a couple of seconds then brook off. Kelsey then shook Amy's hand but in a rude way.

"Pleasure to meet you, sorry not to give you the tour myself but I've got work to do," Kelsey said.

"That's okay, Riley's doing a fine job," said Amy.

The general looks to Riley, he does a sheepish grin. She then looks to Kaitlyn for a few more seconds, salutes to the group and then walks away towards the HQ before the other pilots could salute back.

"Wow it's been awhile since anybody has locked gazes with the commander," said Riley.

"Who was the first," said Kaitlyn, still staring after the commander

"Oh nobody," Riley said.

"C'mon," Kaitlyn says while turning to him "who was it".

Riley shares a quick glance with Megan "she was our last ace that was stationed here," he says while shifting his feet in an uncomfortable way.

"Well where is she?"

"I don't know, she went out flying one night. She loved to fly, always stayed up till the gas was below empty then would wait till it was filled up then quickly went out to fly again. She never came back so after a few weeks we presumed her dead".

Silence slowly fell on the group of people.

"Well this has been entertaining, but my wife and I have to go back to work," Brett said as he grabbed Emily's hand and they walked back to their work.

"And I have to do uhh paper work," Megan said, she saluted then walked to the HQ.

"Well let's continue with the tour," said Riley as he led them towards the living quarters. As the trio approached the living quarters, Kaitlyn observed the building. It was a four story rectangular building. One window was either side of the double doors that were in front. A row of stairs, five steps high, led straight from the doors. A porch went around the building wide enough for a couple of patio tables and simple enough chairs lying around.

Two people were standing by the staircase, talking amongst themselves; it was a boy and girl. Another boy was sitting on the window ledge, red hair, third story left window (from Kaitlyn's left), and he was reading a newspaper. And finally a woman, not older than 18 years, was smoking and drinking a beer laying on one of the patio tables enjoying the summer breeze.

"Hey Mathew, Joseph, Taylor, and Layne come meet the new people" shouted Riley.

As the four people were coming over, "Why do you always say their names individually?" Amy asked.

"What?" Riley said, turning to her looking puzzled.

"Well I've noticed that you only say their names not 'hey everybody' or 'hey guys'".

Riley looking very confused said "why the hell would that bother you".

"It doesn't"

"Oh yes it does, then why would you ask?"

"Next time you shouldn't ask stupid questions".

"Hey no reason to be rude," protested Kaitlyn.

"Next time she should think before she opens her big mouth," Riley said anger rising in his voice.

"Watch it, you can't speak to a superior officer like that," Amy said anger also rising.

"You know what-,"Riley began but was cut short by another voice.

"Riley that's enough".

Kaitlyn looked over Riley's shoulder; it was the boy with the red hair who spoke.

"I'm sorry Mathew," said Riley "will you forgive me Amy," holding his hand out.

Amy looks at the hand then shakes it quick not looking at Riley.

"Good, now that everything's settled. Riley," Riley looks to Mathew "will you introduce us".

"Oh yes sorry Kaitlyn, Amy let me introduce you to...," He looks to Mathew "this is Sergeant Mathew Dykstra my co-pilot".

"Greeting,s" he said nodding to Kaitlyn and Amy.

"This is Corporal Joseph Gillespie".

"Hello" he says with a smile.

"This is Private 2 Taylor Grimaldi"

All she does was nod.

"And finally this is Private First Class Layne Rickets. She is our communications expert," Riley finished.

"Hell-ooo" she says childishly.

"So there you have it".

An awkward silence appears then "Where were you last stationed?" Mathew asked Kaitlyn.

"Delta-8".

"Oh, that's a long distance from here. Is the stationed located at Mongu?"

"Ya," Kaitlyn replied.

"Why the transfer?" asked Mathew.

"Well...that's private if you don't mind".

Mathew and Joseph looked at each other."Wont question you any further"

Kaitlyn nods. Amy looks at Mathew and Joseph questionably, then takes one more drag of her cigarette and flicks it to the ground near Mathews boot.

"Where are you going to show them next?" asked Layne.

"The HQ" Riley replied.

"Ok, I would join you but I can tell the General is in a weird mood and the air around that place is awkward and unwelcoming".

"That's ok".

Riley, Kaitlyn, and Amy say farewell to the others as there leaving to go to the HQ. Amy falls back with Kaitlyn a foot or two behind Riley. "I don't trust those guys".

"Who?" Kaitlyn asks.

"Mathew and Joseph, they seemed odd".

"And why would you think that?"

"Because the way they asked you about our transfer".

"Oh don't be so skeptical, it's all right to question a person you just meet that's how you get to know them and trust them".

Amy stops talking and thinks about what she's heard, but in her mind it's still not right but she agrees with Kaitlyn and they both catch up with Riley. As they approach the HG they see two fighter planes coming towards them. They immediately went into cover man oeuvres but then relaxed as they saw which planes they belonged to it was two Kalash-5s with the FOI stamped on the tail of the plane. They got up and continued heading toward the HQ.

As they approach the doors, one of the doors opens and a guy walks out, he stops looks at them then walks towards them.

"Hello Glovanni," Riley says.

"Bonjour"

"I like you to meet two new pilots to our base, Kaitlyn, Amy this is Private 2 Glovanni".

"Bonjour"

"Hello," Kaitlyn and Amy say.

Glovanni looks to Riley then begins to walk off.

"Oh Glovanni," Riley calls out.

"Oui?"

"Is there anybody else in the HQ besides the General".

He shakes his head then continues to walk off.

"Well then our final stop is the communications outpost"

In about 30 minutes they reach the comm outpost. But there's already a man waiting for them in front of the outpost.

"Heard you had new recruits, so I decided to wait out here for you".

"How did you know? Did your brother tell you" Riley begins to smile.

"Of course, were brothers, we tell each other everything," the other guy also begins to smile.

"Kaitlyn, Amy may I finally introduce you to the last member of our troupe Private Kody Gillespie".

"Hello," he says.

"Are you-,"begins Amy.

"Yes, I'm Josephs brother; younger brother to be precise".

"Not to sound rude but you look nothing alike, except the brown eyes," Kaitlyn says.

Kody laughs "yes that's true, our parents had very different appearances, also we went to our own fashion".

"Oh, ok"

"Do you have business here?" asks Riley.

"No I was just waiting for you, I have to go meet my brother and talk about adjustments to our plane".

"Ok I'll see you in a bit," Riley says.

Kody nods then walks off to the living quarters.

"So you've met everybody...but before I let you go. Let's recap on the people you've been introduced to. And yes this means YOU the reader who's reading this.

Kelsey: General of Beta-8

Eric & Emily Van Rooyen: Mechanics

Riley Lawrence: Pilot (Bardock-6) Orange-6

Mathew Dykstra: Back gunner (Bardock-6) Orange-6

Joseph Gillespie: Pilot (Bardock-6) Orange-9

Kody Gillespie: Back gunner (Bardock-6) Orange-9

Megan Armstrong: Pilot (Bardock-6) Orange-67

Taylor Grimaldi: Back gunner (Bardock-6) Orange-67

Chris Whiteely: Pilot (Kalash-5) Green-5

Glovanni: Back gunner (Kalash-5) Green-5

Kaitlyn Morrow: Pilot (Kalash-5) Green-527

Amy Chen: Back gunner (Kalash-5) Green-527

"Well there you have it. This ends the first chapter of War of the Skies".


	2. Chapter 2

**8 days after the arrival of Kaitlyn and Amy the base has been quiet, but their soon getting an unexpected visit from so unwanted guest.**

War of the Skies

Chapter 2

Beep beep beep beep click. I look over at the clock, 6:30 am. I lay back down on my bed.

"C'mon get up," Chris groaned as he got down from his top bunk. I threw my covers to the side then grab some clothes. As i'm finishing up in the bathroom Chris leans against the door. "So what do you think of the new pilots".

I shrug and continue back to brushing my teeth. Chris rolls his eyes then leaves our room.

I splash water on my face then let the water drop from my face. I go to leave then forget to grab my smokes. As i'm leaving my room I grab a lighter next to the door which is on the shelf next to the door then quickly catch up to Chris.

By the time I reach him he is already out the door. I reach him and we walk slowly to the hanger to do our usual routine. As i'm enjoying the nice warm breeze I look up to the sky and see small black shadows appearing and disappearing.

"Chris," as I tap him on the shoulder.

"What is it," he responds. I point up to the shadows. He looks up and for a few seconds we just stare at the sky, when one of the shadows is more revealed and both of our eyes widen. We look to each other then run to the nearest alarm station. We make to the alarm button smash the glass and as were about to hit it the ground next to us explodes, making us fly from that spot. I hit the ground hard and black out.

I awake to explosions and Chris shacking me. His head is bloodied and his jacket is a little ripped up.

"Glovanni, Glovanni wake the hell up," he's shouting over the noise of the bombs dropping. I nod my head to him and he lets go of me.

"Glovanni i'm going to get the plane started, go push the alarm button and get back to me asap, got it," I nod "Good now get up and get moving" he begins running to the hanger, covering his face from debris shooting from everywhere.

I get up and look around; many of the pilots are running to the hanger to get to their planes. I spot someone lying on the ground. I recognize the hair, it's Mathew Dykstra, Riley's partner, I about to walk over to him when I see a pool of blood underneath him, he's already dead. I look to my left and see Brett crouched over his wife shaking her and shouting at her to wake up. She's already dead to. And finally I hear a scream and turn around to see Amy Chen flying through the air and land on me, knocking me over. I turn her over and half of her face is gone, also an arm. Kaitlyn comes out of nowhere and starts towards us then stops as she sees Amys condition. She starts to cry then curls up in a ball and swings back and forth.

I go to her to try and get her out of here but she just pushes me away so I leave her and run to the alarm system. I reach it and punch it. A loud noise begins to sound and the automatic turrets come to life and start blasting at the enemy planes. I then run to the hanger and see Chris and the plane start to fly out of here. Somehow I make and get in the backseat while putting on a headset.

"What took you so long; I was beginning to think you got killed".

"Try and help others"

"Leave that for the medic people,". I can feel the plane lift and where flying through the air. I begin to analyze what we're up against. 4 Colosos bombers just circling our hanger, some of our planes are trying to shoot down the enemy planes but are having no luck; there are just too many fighters. 2 Thunderbolts; they're the ones stopping our planes, those planes are light weight and faster. Also there are 4 Arbocs which are roughly the same grade as ours but are also causing problems.

A few bullets come whizzing by our plane. "What are you doing, we got a plane on our ass; shoot it down," Chris says as he dodges the bullets. I get my mind back into action and start unloading on the plane. Eventually the plane flies off, knowing we're no easy target.

"All pilots, all pilots we need immediate assistance with home base, we are taking heavy fire and need back up, I repeat we need backup," Layne's voice rang in our headsets.

"Copy that were coming back," Joseph and Megan responded.

"I'm going to try hitting the bombers," Riley said.

"Copy that. Commander will be joining you Riley," Layne responded

"Umm...did I hear you correctly?"

"I believe you did hear correctly otherwise you wouldn't be responding otherwise," cut in Commanders voice.

"Roger that," Riley said.

"When was the last time the Commander went up?" I ask Chris.

"Probably a year ago," Chris responds while shooting down an Arboc.

The fight progresses on and all of a sudden the commander's voice pops up. "Mayday mayday i'm going down took too much to the back of the plane and i'm smoking, can't...control...her" Her voice ends in a loud explosion. I look around and see in the distance an explosion and what's left of the plane falling to the ground.

"GOD DAMMIT," Riley yells.

After about twenty minutes the few remaining enemy planes retreat. Chris turns the plane around and heads for the base. We arrive in five minutes and my breathe catches in my throat. All the buildings have been bombed including the communications outpost in the distance. The damage is bad but not too severe.

We finally land and get out of the plane. We see ambulances and fire trucks zooming past dealing with everything they can. Kaitlyn is still balled up where I left her. I look to Chris and nod to where Kaitlyn is, he looks then shakes his head and nods to a group of about five people standing around medics who are dealing with a dead body; M's dead body.

We reach the group and look to find a blanket over Emily and Brett crying over her. Megan's comforting him as best as she can. Joseph, Kody, Taylor, and Layne look to Chris and he nods to the living quarters.

As we are making our way to the quarters Riley finally sets down at the hanger and pulls into the hanger. We arrive at the living quarters or what's left. Half of the place is destroyed and a piece of the front wall is gone. We all try to get as comfortable as we can and just sit there.

After a few minutes of silence Joseph asks the question we've all been waiting for "So... who's going to take charge".

"Before the comms outpost was destroyed" begins Layne " I managed to contact the main HQ and they said it's our choice. We either get a new commander or we assign the highest ranking pilot here".

"Well the highest ranking pilot now is Kaitlyn Morrow but she isn't in any condition to lead the base, let alone fly a plane," Taylor points out.

"Then it has to be you Joseph," Chris states. Joseph looks up then looks around at everybody then back to Chris.

"Does that mean...," Joseph begins.

"Yes you won't be the pilot of your plane anymore. Your brother Kody would take over," Chris says.

Joseph looks to Kody and He nods his head and smiles.

Joseph stands up and looks at everybody "Then i'm your new commander," Everybody stands and salutes, Joseph returns the salute.

At that time Riley and Megan return. Are quickly notified of Joseph's promotion and quickly do a salute.

"How are Brett and Kaitlyn?" Taylor asks.

"Kaitlyn was sent to the hospital and Brett is taking it as best as he can," Megan says.

"Will he be able to go back to work?" Chris asks.

Megan gives him a dirty look. Chris just sits there unaffected. "He says he has to take a break then he will come back to work," Megan finishes by giving Chris another dirty look. Again Chris is unaffected.

"What about Kaitlyn" Kody asks.

This time Riley answers but it doesnt sound like him "Yes she's just in shell shock and will be able to report back in a week at most.

Joseph nods then gets up and begins his first speech "Friends," everybody immediately pays attention, "I know we have suffered greatly but I will try my most best to get this base up and running again, but before we do any of that we are going to bury our dead and take a week of vacation for mourning and revitalization". Everybody looks to each other and nods.

Joseph begins to walk out the door leading his team outside to begin preparations for the funeral and to continue you on, no matter what.


	3. Chapter 3

**8 days have passed since the surprise attack on Beta-8, everybody is depressed from the loss of their fallen comrades but that doesn't stop them from continuing on with their duties. Chris and Glovanni go out to patrol and find something...surprising.**

War of the Skies

Chapter 3

After the funeral Joseph, sorry I mean Commander Gillespie, ordered us to take a week off for so called 'vacation'. I just stayed at the base, help rebuild it and relaxed. I wasn't the only one who stayed. Commander Gillespie, Glovanni, Megan, and Taylor stayed also. Commander stayed in his office the whole time working on boss crap. Glovanni worked on his English the whole week and is very fluent in it and speaks a lot more than he used to. Megan and Taylor stuck together either in their room or helped rebuild.

Riley left as soon as possible. Losing Mathew must have been hard and losing the previous commander to must have been more devastating, so he left the country, didn't write, call, anything. He just stayed quiet and laid low. He arrived later than a week but commander didn't care, he's like that, he cares more about other people than himself.

Kody, Josephs brother went back to see their mom and spend time with her. They live somewhere in America, I think Texas. They have a big ranch so that kept Kody busy. He arrived a week after the funeral, it was really early and we didn't recognize him from the dark tan he got.

Layne went to California to stay in a hot place and forget about war for awhile. She sent lots of postcards which annoyed us at some points because a lot of the cards were her just bragging. We used those for target practice. She arrived a day after the week and she was also tanned but not as tanned as Kody.

Oh and Brett. (Sigh) Brett was devastated; he didn't know what to do for a couple of days. He finally decided to go back to where he first met Emily, England. He wanted to cherish the memories of when the war didn't bother them. He sometimes sent a postcard but rarely. He arrived sooner than we thought and wanted to work, work, and work.

Kaitlyn when she got back from the hospital had changed. Her hair was gone, buzz cut style, and she also grew a couple of inches so at first we thought she was a guy. When she got back she went straight to the HQ, handed commander her transfer forms got in her plane and flew away, after she left commander told us that she transferred to Echo-1 down by the Zambezi river, she didn't even pay her respects to Brett. I always knew she was a selfish bitch.

Now were just sitting around. We do missions that are assigned to us every now and then but we have to do drills to keep us as sharp as ever. We don't want the TOU bastards to surprise us again. Next time we'll be ready.

"Hey Chris commander wants to see you," shouted Riley from outside.

I pop my head out of the window "What for?"

"I think you're doing a scouting mission, you'll have to get the details from him" and he walked away to the hanger. riley seems to be off at points, staring at nothing or just hanging in his room alone not wanting to see anybody.

I roll my eyes, these scouting missions are sooo boring, most of the time you're just flying, and you'd get lucky if you found a TOU plane just to have it running away like a scared pup.

"Glovanni you almost done in there, Joseph want to see us in his office ASAP," I say as I knock on the bathroom door.

"Chris that's Commander, you're not suppose to say his first name he's the general of this airbase not some pilot anymore," he responds back casually. As he says that I mimic him in a childish way. Lately he has to remind me of that detail but I don't give a rat's ass.

"Whatever just hurry up," I go to close my window when I see Brett outside leaning against the hanger smoking. He never used to smoke but since Emily's death he took up the bad habit. Glovanni comes out of the shower all ready to go.

"Well c'mon what are you waiting for, I thought you said the commanders waiting for us," he finishes off with a teasing smile. I clench my fists then start after him but he knows what's coming and i'm chasing him through the living quarters, outside and into the HQ. We stop running as soon as we hit the doors.

We arrive at Jose-I mean 'Commanders' office. We walk in and salute. He salutes back. "Sit down boys," he says.

"Joseph we've known each other for a year," Chris says.

Glovanni puts his hand to his face and sighs. Joseph looks up and smiles. "Yes I know that Chris but i'm the commander, i've got to start playing the role you know that"

"Yea whatever, so what's the 'mission'," I say while putting two fingers up and bending them around the word 'mission'.

Again Glovanni puts his hand on his face and shakes his head. I look at him and roll my eyes.

"The mission is to scout over Mumbwa and check for any TOU forces"

I nod, and as i'm about to getup Glovanni asks a question "But Mumbwa is in no man's land, I thought that was fair game to anybody"

"Yes it is but I don't want the main HQ breathing down my neck because I didn't do this simple mission. Please just do it," He finishes and we both get up and head for the door.

"Oh and try not to get yourself killed, were understaffed as it is"

I do a thumb up to him without looking back.

"Your planes already to go," Brett says while wiping oil of his hands with a rag.

I nod to him then go to the plane. But Glovanni walks up to him and asks how he's doing. I don't hear the rest of their conversation i'm already in my beauty and warming her up.

By the time i'm ready to go Glovanni enters the cockpit. "So how's he doin?" I ask him.

"Ok I guess, how would you feel if your wife died right beside you?"

"Well first off i'm not getting married," I begin watching Glovanni as he's about to go on a rant "But my life would be a living hell," I finish. Glovanni relaxes and prepares his gun.

We then take off leaving the quiet Beta-8 behind. We travel east towards no man's land making good time. We should be home for supper. I check that all systems are working fine and at their best.

"Hey Chris," Glovanni says over the mic.

"Ya what is it"

"Have you ever thought of what your going to do when the wars over?"

"Man you think this war is ever going to end?"

"Ya it has to eventually...right?"

"I have no clue, but we're probably going to die before it ever ends"

"Way to think positive," Glovanni snorts

"You know me, I never thought positive, I always think practical. That's the problem with everyday pilots, they think that everything is going to be ok but it probably isn't. We are either gonna win the war, lose the war, or just blow this whole planet up"

Glovanni doesn't respond. "And whenever I make an awesome speech you go all 'uhh I don't care blah, blah, blah," Still Glovanni doesn't respond. "Hey what's going on back there?"

"We just flew over a TOU base," he responds.

"Bullshit, your just pulling my leg," I remark back.

I'm about to forget what he said when a shower of bullets comes towards our plane. "Shit," I turn the plane left and prepare to fire on who shoot us. My eyes widen when I see there is a TOU airbase, it's as big as ours but still if the TOU are getting this aggressive that could mean...

"Hey wake up there we got bogies coming from below," Glovanni shouts as he starts shooting his gun.

I drive those thoughts back and come back to the battle. I count all the planes and figure out what were up against. 1 Spitfire, 1 Hurricane, 17 Carlum's which most of them are parked at the hanger but I can see pilots running towards them. 3 new planes that I don't recognize must be new models, and 6 Kalash's half of which are also parked.

"We have to turn back," Glovanni tries to say over the gunfire.

"Glovanni do you remember what I said when we first met," I say casually ignoring his comment.

"No...Wait you can't be series," he looks in his mirror.

I smile "Of course i'm series, it's time we make a name for ourselves," and I turn to go straight for the base where death is most likely waiting for us.

Even more bullets come whizzing towards us but as I dodge the bullets I never lose momentum and come soaring over the base blasting my guns and rockets into the buildings, planes, hell anything that's down there. I pull my joystick up and as soon as my nose is in the air I continue pulling until i'm fling upside down. Glovanni just peppers the ground and manages to blow up quite a few planes. I turn over and start flying after a Hurricane.

I destroy it with ease but then get three planes on my tail. Glovanni manages to shoot down one but they dodge his bullets and manage to shoot some of their own.

"Awww shit i'm hit," Glovanni says.

"How bad," I respond worried a little.

"Just the shoulder, I can still fight but I won't be as fast"

"Ok, just don't kill yourself trying," I finish as I quickly brake and get behind the planes that were behind us. One tries to veer left but I peg him, and the other one tries to do what I did to him but I hit him with a couple of rockets.

In about five minutes all but two planes are destroyed. The two that escape are the new brand. We check the base and it's in ruins. All the buildings are destroyed and are on fire. I turn to head home when Glovanni says "I can't believe we just did that"

"I told you it would be fun," as I relax in my seat, then I remember "Hows your shoulder?"

"Shit I forgot about i,t" then I hear a small cry of pain. "It hurts a lot but I'll live"

"Good," I smile then speed up to get us home faster.

WE arrive home just after supper. Earlier when I got in range I called the base to prepare and ambulance, so there's one ready with everybody standing around it. They all gap at us for some reason, I get out of my plane and know why, the plane has immense amount of bullet holes and is smoking on the far left wing. Every one rushes to the plane when they see Glovanni get out. A couple of paramedics rush towards us, even faster than my co workers.

They all start asking me what happed when Commander walks up and everybody goes silent. "What the hell happened," as he looks at my plane.

"Glovanni saw a TOU airbase that was based in no man's land so we destroyed it," everybody looks to us with surprised faces.

"Describe this base," Commander asks.

"Big as ours, no bombers but there were 28 fighters in total, we managed to destroy 26 of these planes and the 2 that escaped were new models, not the best planes i've seen but still new"

Joseph nods to himself then address the team. "I've got reports of TOU being more aggressive and somehow managing to place airfields in no man's land, but we could never detect were they were, HQ suspects there using new technology to hide their presence but it's only a prototype, but none the less all of you should be alert whenever you fly out of here"

He starts to walk away but stops and turns to address Chris again "Good work i'm promoting both of you, Chris you'll get one rank up, Notify Glovanni he gets 2 ranks up" he salutes to us and we salute back, then he leaves. After he's gone everybody asks for the details and of course I have to give in and explain what happen.

I prefer to be left alone after a fight to rest but I can't help but feel happy as everybody is so interested in me. It's a feeling that i'm starting to get used to.


	4. Chapter 4 Part 1

**7 days have passed since the surprise TOU airfield discovering in no mans land, and how their getting more aggressive. But at Beta-8 Riley is still having troubles cooping with the loss of his co-pilot/best friend, Mathew, and his former leader Commander Kelsey.**

War of the Skies

Chapter 4 Part 1

"Mathew! Mathew!" I yell out as bombs are crashing down around me.

"Math-,"I began to yell again but then I see him, lying on the ground. I run to check on him. I reach him and turn the body over, he's dead. I begin to cry but stop myself; I can't break down now when the base is under attack so I run to the hanger doors.

I reach the doors and a couple of planes have already taken off.

"Riley," I turn to see Chris running towards me, he has blood on the side of his forhead and his jackets alittle torn up.

"Chris where's Glovanni . . . is he dead?"

"No, well not when I left him. He went to turn the automatic turrets on," He looks around me "Where's Mathew".

I shake my head in response, he nods understandingly "I'm sorry . . . I got to get going, you know where under attack," he pats my shoulder then runs to his plane. I nod then run to mine. I get to it, start it up then i'm outta there.

I immediately get shot at just when I hit the sky. I veer to the left then right, try to shake it off, but somebody already shot him down for me.

"Thought you could use a hand," Joseph says.

"Thanks, do you know where Kaitlyn is?" I ask

"Last time I saw her she was curled in a ball on the ground," Kody says.

I try to see if I can see her but i'm too high up. I flap my wing to Joseph in thanks then go up in pursuit of the bombers.

I reach the bombers and Megan's already taken out one bomber and trying to outmaneuver a fighter that's on her tail. I come in hot and take the fighter out.

"Thanks Riley, I thought I was a goner," Megan says.

"No worries, how many more bombers are there?" I ask.

"There's three left, but the gun ports are making it difficult to destroy them"

"Wait, where's Mathew?" Taylor cuts in.

". . . I found him dead, he must have been running to the hanger but got hit"

I hear Megan gasp and Taylor weep a little. "We can mourn the dead later; we have more pressing matters to attend to," I finish.

"Right," Megan says. Taylor says the same.

We veer off then come back towards the bombers side by side guns blazing from us and the bombers. Just at the last second I veer left and Megan veers right. As Megan gains her balance a Thunderbolt comes tearing through the clouds.

"Where did he come from," Megan says, mainly to herself. She dives down and tries to shake him. I'm about to follow when Megan says "Riley don't, stay with the bombers they're more important".

"Fine just don't get yourself killed," but Megan doesn't reply, she's too busy evading the Thunderbolts on her tail.

I get back on task and try to destroy another bomber with no luck. They're too close to each other which give them a better defence.

"All pilots, all pilots we need immediate assistance with home base, we are taking heavy fire and need back up, I repeat we need backup," Layne's voice rings in my headset.

"Copy that were coming back," Joseph and Megan responded.

"I'm going to try hitting the bombers," I say.

"Copy that Commander Kelsey will be joining you Riley," Layne responded

I blink with shock and respond in a surprised voice "Umm...did I hear you correctly?"

"I believe you did hear her correctly otherwise you wouldn't be responding otherwise," cut in Commanders voice.

"Ok roger that," I say. A few minutes later Commander comes in to help.

"What's the situation Private?"

"The bombers are too close together which makes it harder to take them out"

Commander thinks for a little then says "We need to break them apart, i'll make the distraction while you come in and break them up and take them out separately"

"Commander that's very dangerous you may get shot dow,n" I respond with a worried voice.

"Do you underestimate my skill Riley?"

"No not at all it's just-,"I begin.

"Worry about yourself, i'm a very capable pilot,"she cuts in which ends the discussion.

"Yes ma'am," then I fly higher into the sky and wait for the signal.

"Go Riley, now!" Commander shouts.

I race down and see her shooting up the bombers and making the distraction. I began to shoot also and take the bombers by surprise. They then realize i'm coming in hot and they peel off but I manage to take one down.

"Yea take that," I shout out in a triumph it voice.

All of a sudden commanders voice comes in the mic "Mayday mayday i'm going down took too much to the back of the plane and i'm smoking, can't...control...her" then an explosion.

I look to my left and see what's left of her plane falling to the ground.

"GOD DAMNIT," I shout then darkness fills my eyes.

I awake to sweat all over my body and bed. I get up and go take a shower. I come out and my voice mail box is blinking red. I click the button. "You have one new message"

"Hey Riley its Chris, I just saw Joseph and he wants to see all of us in the hanger pronto, sooo head over there when you're up, ok bye. Beep. End of message," click, I go to the window and see people walking over to the hanger. I get dressed and as i'm about to head out the door I see a picture frame upside down, I pick it up and my throat clenches.

It's a photo of me and Mathew in front of our plane, an arm over each other's shoulder smiling at the camera. A tear drops on the picture; I wipe my face with my sleeve, put the picture standing up on the dresser then head out the door into another meaningless day.


	5. Chapter 4 Part 2

**Riley arrives and discovers something new, and how is this gonna affect the group. But that's not it. There is something even deeper going on with the FOI.**

War of the Skies

Chapter 4 Part 2

I quickly head out the door to catch up to Chris who's already half way to the hanger.

"So you got my message in time" Chris says without even looking at me.

"Yea, thanks for that"

Glovanni pops out of now where to my left. "Hey Riley"

"Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me" As I regain my balance from jumping up. I quickly notice something on his lower lip. I look to investigate and see it's the French symbol.

"You like it, just got it done yesterday" as he puffs up is lower lip so it shows more.

"Yea it's nice" I smile.

As we approach the hanger, I see a plane fly down at the last second and land in front of us, almost hitting us.

"Watch it dumb ass, you almost hit us" I yell at the pilots coming out of the cockpit.

"Oh god i'm sooo sorry" The pilot says in a mocking attitude.

I clench my hands and approach the pilot; he stands his guard but the guy behind him backs up a bit. I look up to his face and we just stare at each other. Nobody blinks or looks the other way.

"Ok that's enough" Chris comes between us pushing me back.

The pilot in front just smirks and walks away; the other guy scurries behind him.

"Who the hell was that?" Glovanni asks while watching the pilots.

"Who cares, let's go I don't want to be late" Chris says and walks away.

Glovanni nods and walks with him. But I just stand there, infuriated. I scratch the scar on my cheek to try to calm myself.

"_Riley don't scratch it, you'll re-open it"_

_I look over my shoulder to see Mathew walking up to me._

"_Mat it's a scar not a scab" While I scratch it more to bug him._

_He starts chasing me but I expected it and dodge out of the way, while scratching more. He does a sudden turn which catches me by surprise and he tackles me to the ground and grabs my arm and twists it to the side. _

_I try not to give but he'll continue going if not. "Ok ok I give, I give". He releases me and gets off me. _

"Riley you coming"

I look over and see Chris's head pop out behind the hanger doorway.

"Ya i'm coming" I turn to start walking but take one last look back. I can see a faint shimmer of Mathew and I racing back to the quarters. I turn back and go to the hanger.

I arrive and check out the scene. There's a board with a bunch of maps and drawings and numbers. Three rows of chairs (four chairs in each row) and two in the last row. Chris and Glovanni are standing in the back keeping to themselves as always. Kody is at the front with a new girl pilot; she has blue short hair and is almost half a foot taller than him. But she seems small to him, she's obviously attracted to him but he doesn't see it, that's too funny.

The two pilots that I met earlier are sitting in the front row talking and looking over their shoulders at everybody else. Now that they have their gear off, I can see them more clearly. The pilot who gave me attitude has shoulder length blonde hair. He's a smaller build than me and has blue eyes. He has a small birth mark near his chin and one on the back of his leg. The other pilots smaller and looks more afraid, he's probably afraid of his co-worker but is too scared to do anything about it. He has short blonde hair and brown eyes.

Megan and Taylor are sitting on either side of Brett who keeps looking worried and off to the right. I look to where he's looking and see two people that I didn't notice before. Ones a guy with an eye patch over his left eye, large build, and you can see the tip of a scar popping out of his collar, he's sharing a cigarette with another pilot who towers over him. This one's a girl with a buzzcut hairdo and... no way. A piece of clothing from a previous pilot's uniform. Amy Chen.

"What the hell are you doing here!?"I shout towards the female pilot.

Kaitlyn looks up from talking with the other pilot and just stands their speechless.

I charge up to her but Chris gets in the way.

"Riley don't, she's already been yelled at" Chris says while keeping me from pushing him over.

"Well it's my turn" I snarl at him and knock him aside.

I'm about to reach her when... "Riley stand down"

I turn to see Mathew walking towards me with a serious face. I rub my eyes and look again to see Commander walking instead. "Take a seat" nobody moves.

Commander walks past me and past Kaitlyn "Joseph" she says. Commander stops walks up to Kaitlyn and says "That's Commander, Staff Sergeant". He looks to the rest of us. "I said Take A Seat" we all shuffle around and take seats.

"Before I go into detail of this briefing let me introduce you to new recruitments that have been placed here. This is Private Felecia Copeland" The girl that was talking to Kody stands up and nods to us and sits back down. "Specialist Tyler Gill" The guy that gave me attitude just raises his hand. "And finally Private Riley Barnum" the little pilot quickly stands up nods and sits down a little too fast and he slips of his chair and falls to the ground. His co-pilot just laughs and doesn't help him up. Riley, the one who fell, his face goes red and sits on the chair head down.

"Also Staff Sergeant Kaitlyn Morrow and her partner Private 2 Donnie Hoffman will also be joining us on this mission". Everybody looks to them and gives them evil glares (I included).

"Now that we have the formalities let's begin". He turns to the board and points at one of the maps, "Recently I got a report that Delta-8 and neighbouring airfields are planning to launch an attack on Lusaka where the TOU have fortified the capitol with at least 4 airfields. They plan on travelling very early in the morning and when the sun rises they will strike and take them by surprise and hit the three supporting airfields around the main big one", he points to three X's around one large X. "I have also been notified that the pilots of Beta-8 will be leading the attack, now any questions".

Kaitlyn stands up "Will other pilots from other airfields be leading this mission with us"

Joseph hesitates "No, we are the only ones leading the attack"

Everybody looks around nervously and whispering to each other. "I know I haven't given you much but that's all i've got".

I stand up "Who will be going?"

"Right I was about to get to that, now you can go or stay. If you stay there will be no shame or demotion it is of your choice, but pilots who have a partner" he looks to me as he says that and I just stare back "must agree on your decision, once you have decided I will call your name and if you're going stand by the board here and if you aren't" Commander walks to the hanger door "stand beside me".

"You're not going" Kody asks with a questionable look.

"No I must stay here and watch over the nest, there's still a lot of paper work that I have to finish by a deadline so i'm staying"

"So am I" Brett says and walks over to Joseph.

"Me to" Layne says and she walks over.

"As will we" Chris says. Glovanni stands too but to grab Chris.

"Chris what are you doing"

"We shouldn't do this" he looks to me "neither should you, I have a bad feeling about this"

"I'm going" I tell him and cross my arms.

"Fine, Glovanni?" Chris looks to him

Glovanni just stands there nervously but then he relaxes and gives in "Fine let's go" as he walks to the hanger door with Chris.

Silence for awhile then "So that's it, the rest of you are going". Everybody nods including me. "Fine, leave in one hour and good luck" Everybody gets up and begins to leave and say goodbye to the ones who are staying. I just walk out but I see Commander and Megan talking, I hang back so i'm not seen and watch as they talk. Then Commander gives Megan a letter and then walks away. Megan does a quick look around but doesn't spot me and walks away.

What was that about?

And what was that letter? Hopefully i'll find out soon.

I throw my bag which contains extra clothes and other necessities that could be needed. As i'm about to get into my plan "Riley don't go" I turn to see Chris at the bottom of the ladder, serious face and all.

"I've made my choice and i'm sticking with it" I start to get in again but then Chris says the one thing that catches me off guard "It's not what Mathew would do".

I freeze; it's been so long since somebody else has said that name. I jump out of the plane and land in front of Chris who expected that and backed up ahead of time. "How dare you think you know what _Mathew _would do," I get up to his face when I say his name.

"_How dare I_, you think you know so much about him but you only know his outside layer. Remember who his first partner was. _ME_, I was with him for 2 years before you even knew him. . I think I would know him better than you ," Chris leans in closer to my face "Mathew would never go into a battle without knowing details about it, he would never go into battle without the support of his most trusted friend" He steps back and crosses his arms, waiting for my response.

"People change Chris. Did you ever know that Mathew lost his sister 2 years ago to cancer" Chris's face go from anger to confusion "And you said you knew him better ha!" I walk up the ladder and hop into the cockpit, I put on the helmet and when I look to see if Chris is still there he's gone, went to say goodbye to the other pilots or do whatever the hell he does. I start up the engine, as do the other pilots and we fly off. I look back before i've left the track and see Chris standing in his room looking out his window staring straight at me, only me. I stare back and then fly off to join with the rest group.

In roughly 12 hours we make it to Delta-8, which is crawling with dozens of planes and even more people. We land in our assigned track, track number 8. The track numbers are the same as the airfield number.

"Where do we go now?" Megan asks.

"Welcome pilots from Beta-8" a man yells towards us as he's running to us.

"There's your answer" Riley says in a sarcastic voice. Megan gives him a dirty look and all he does is snicker.

"The general wishes to see you right after I take you to your quarters"

The man takes us to our quarters and while we take a jeep, that has more seats than a regular jeep, we check out our surroundings. Planes are flying everywhere and people are running around doing tasks I suppose. We arrive at the quarters which are crawling with people doing errands and doing whatever the hell they do.

We get off the jeep and walk towards the building, "Here is one of the main living quarters, we have a total of 4 quarters, a total of 200 pilots that's including bomber and fighter pilots"

"That doesn't seem like a lot" Donnie notes.

"Well no shit Sherlock, that's what we got so far hopefully more will come"

"Wait I thought this was a big mission" I ask.

"It is but the other bases aren't as 'co-operative' as you are"

"Why is that" I ask.

The man stops and turns to us "That's classified information" and continues walking.

We all look to each other and then back to the man. "Well come on" I say and lead the way to the quarters.

The place isn't special, the rooms aren't spacious but they fit 5 people to a room we managed to get two rooms, one for me Megan, Taylor, Kody, and Felicia. Kaitlyn her partner I think his name is Donnie, the other Riley and his partner, the arrogant one, Tyler.

"God that Tyler guys a real asshole" Megan states while unpacking

"Ya I totally agree with you, he needs to learn his place" I say with a nasty image of me beating the shit out of him.

"Easy Riley, he may be an asshole but he's part of our team and we have to treat him the respect that another teammate would treat a college. . . That doesn't mean we always have to be nice to him" Kody says with a smile.

We all smile and soon it turns into laughter and in less than 5 minutes where all rolling on the ground with laughter.

"_Who are you?" the man with red hair says who sits on the top bunk._

"_Um . . . i'm Private Riley Lawrence, i'm umm your new partner" I say nervously._

_The man looks me up and down and stands "The names Mathew, first off lose the stutter and second" he grabs my hand and shakes it "always greet a person with a handshake, it's more polite and makes any new people seem like where not just monkeys flying a stick" he releases my hand and walks back to the top bunk of the bed and rests on it._

_I just stand there, awkwardly looking around the room "is there something else you wanted?" Mathew says without even looking at me._

"_Umm . . . no I am just going to uhh get some food. Do you want anything?"_

_Mathew looks to me then closes his eyes again facing the ceiling "i'll just have a coke" I nod quickly and scurry out the room. Before I can leave I hear something dripping behind me. I slowly turn and my eyes widen and face goes white. _

_Mathew is covered in blood from head to toe eyes closed. I put my back to the door and try to open it but it won't budge. Mathew finally opens his eyes which quickly fill up with blood, he raises his hand "It's not polite to greet people without shaking their hand" he smiles as he says the last word and then blood shoots out of his mouth covering the whole room and me. _

_I scream as the blood soars all over me and around me, into my mouth. I'm choking I try to resist but it's too much and finally my eyes fill up with the blood of Mathew._

I quickly open my eyes and find that i'm on the floor sweat all over my body. I rise from the ground looking around. Everybody else is asleep. How did I not wake them?

After everyone is awake, washed up and ready to go the man who led us here earlier takes to the HQ main area. We arrive at a large room where chairs are placed everywhere and a larger board which contains plans for the upcoming attack and a man standing in front of the board, he has FOI tattooed on the front of his right leg. Also you can see a birthmark sticking out around his torso (he is wearing a tank top which hides the birthmark a little).

"Thank you Ronald" the man says. The other guy who was the guide, Ronald leaves without question.

"Now shall we begin" the man says while pointing to the chairs. We all take seats in the front rows.

"My name is General John Mcshane; I am the commanding general of Delta-8 and of the FOI forces stationed here on Zambia. In this meeting I will be discussing the plans of the mission and what you pilots will be doing-"

"Sir why is our base the only one leading the attack" Megan interrupts.

John squints at her "and who is asking?"

"Corporal Megan Armstrong Sir"

"Well corporal, that is classified information"

"We have the authority to know sir" Megan states.

John's face goes a little shade red "On who's authority", you can hear the anger in his voice rising.

Megan walks up to the front and pulls out the envelope Commander gave to her earlier and hands it to Mcshane.

Mcshane snatches out of her hands, opens it and begins to read. As he dwells deeper into the writing his face gets a even darker shade of red "How the hell-"but stops mid sentence and motions Megan back to her seat. She stands there with a cautious look but then sits back down.

"Change of plans, with this resent _report _I am to notify you of why you're the only base leading the attack" He stops to gather his thoughts. "In the past 5 years we have been waging war in Zambia for too long. Normally it would only take 2-3 years at most for one side to conquer the other but TOU is not letting up one bit. So we have decided in the event that we lose this country we would nuke this whole area" Everybody is in total shock and some even get up from their seats including me "Settle down, settle down. Now we have contacted neighboring FOI forces in that if this happens they would leave the area immediately. Now into why you're the only team leading is because your Commander Kelsey was part of this _back up_ plan also known as operation ZD and was the only other general willing to partake in this, all the other generals will oblige to the order but will not partake in it" he ends it with that and the room is quite

Finally Kody says "but that doesn't explain why _we _have to lead this attack"

"All founding members of ZD must lead any attacks because if it goes sour and there's no hope left they would risk their own lives and activating the nuke and-"

"Wait" Tyler interrupts "are you saying that we would sacrifice our lives to activate the nuke"

John nods and everybody is so shocked that you can't even hear anybody breathing.

"I'm sorry you had to hear this now right before this mission but this shouldn't distract you at the moment, we have more pressing matters to attend to"

"No I think we don't" I say with anger in my voice.

Mcshane looks to me "Excuse me?"

"Do you think that for one second we would carry on this request, I think not"

Mcshane's face goes purple and he storms up to me and looks me right in the face "You have no say in this _Private_, and next time you back talk me you will lose your wings"

"Now since you all know that back story it's time to get back on the task at hand. There will be three divisions going in at once; but at different spots. Division 1 will be led by Specialist Tyler Gill and Private Kody Gillespie, your division will be going straight at them, you'll be taking the most damage but you'll be distracting the enemy. Division 2 will be led by Staff Sergeant Kaitlyn Morrow and division 3 will be led by Private Riley Lawrence and Corporal Megan Armstrong, your divisions will flank the enemy and hit them from the side taking out most of the defences so that the bombers can move to the main HQ without getting shot up. This mission will start in 5 hours so gear up get some sleep do whatever, but be ready for battle always. This mission highly depend on you for giving the men instructions" as he says that he looks straight at me, because i'm the ace so he thinks I know a lot more than my colleges, and I do. I nod to him and he does a quick smirk to show he understands.

"You're dismissed and good luck to all of you"

"Check check one two three, can you hear me Meg"

"Loud and clear Riley . . . you ready for this?"

"Ya best I can be"

"Good, at least someone is"

We lift off from the tarmac and fly together with the rest of Beta-8. We all flap our wings to say goodbye "Everybody good luck and stay safe" Kody says and heads off with Tyler, Kaitlyn leaves to her division alone and Megan and I leave to our division.

"Sir, Ma'am we're ready to go" The pilot officer says.

"Then let's do this" I say and begin to fly to what most likely will be my impending doom.

We're on the outskirts when we get the report from General Mcshane "Division 3 your objective is to flank on the left side of the airbase and cripple its defences severely. Fight until death if need be, and one more thing if you get shot down and your planes falling but your still alive aim for something important to crash into. Every kill counts good luck"

"What a way to put it" Taylor snorts.

"He's just thinking of the bigger picture" I comment.

"Whatever, it's still insensitive to just think that no matter what we'll do whatever he says"

"Some people follow orders to the letter"

We arrive and the battles already started, division 1 has already attacked and are in a serious conflict with the enemy. Division 2 is hanging back waiting for the order.

"CHARGGE" I yell into the mouthpiece and soar towards the compound with other planes flying with me. Kody and Tyler also charge and we fly straight to the frae. The enemy is taken by surprise and tries to retaliate but were to close and we just go ballistic on the guns and destroy many plans on the ground and in the sky. After awhile TOU fighters get back to action and a major dogfight starts overtop the base.

"Squads 1-5 head for division 1, 6-8 follow Corporal Armstrong and head to the back of the base to get any aircrafts grouping up, 9 and 10 follow me where gonna destroy as much anti aircraft as possible" I quickly say. Planes fly in different directions but 20 stay with me and fly with me as we destroy anti aircraft turrets around the base.

"Sir enemy fighter 12 o'clock", a pilot yells to me.

I look up and see a group of Thunderbolts heading straight us.

"Evasive manoeuvres" and we spread but to pilots get caught in the fire. I turn sideways to evade bullets, fly up and shoot a couple of planes down.

We continue on for 30 minutes when "I'm hit, i'm hit smoking out the back I can't keep it steady, _cough, cough_"

"Megan hold on, hows Taylor?" I ask

Then crying is on the mic, I clench my fists "She's dead Riley, we we're chased by two Hurricanes and her gun jammed and the sprayed and . . . and . . . she took the bullets to save me" more crying.

"Head back to base now, if you can't make it radio in last coordinates and land as safe as you can"

"Roger that. And Riley, be careful"

"I will" and I see her fly off towards the base. I nod to her then get back into action. When I rejoin my squad I notice that we've gotten deeper into the base and still going. Division one has taken several casualties but are still going strong and divisions 2 and 3 have joined forces.

"Riley we're is Megan and Taylor?" Kody asks.

"Taylor" I exhale.

"No it can't be" Kody says.

"Taylor's dead but Megan still alive and was heading back to base"

"Ok that's-"but got interrupted by a hail of bullets from above

"Son of a bitch, argghh" Kody pipes out.

"Kody you good" I ask but look to his plane. It's shot up but still going.

"Fuck they got my fingers" He says through gritted teeth.

"What?"

"They shot my three middle finger of my left hand off, I don't know how but now I have no index, middle, and ring on my left fucking hand and it hurts like a bitch"

I can't say anything but laugh a little. Like what are the odds of that.

We're at the main part of the HQ taking out what's left but then a group of Thunderbolts is soaring through and is heading straight for Kody. I fly in front of him so the body is covering his plane as much as possible

"Riley NOO" but it's too late, the bullets hit all over the plane and all over me.

Oh my god, blood seeping through my clothes and all over my body, the pain is unbearable it's like I got shot, I smile at my stupid joke. My hands go limb and the plane goes down.

"RILEY GOD DAMNIT NOOO!" Kody shouts at me trying to get me to speak. I try but it's too hard or I just can't one of the two.

I get closer and closer to the ground and I remember Mcshane and what he said. I turn the plane with all my might and now i'm heading straight for the HQ.

_You've done well Riley_

I look to my right and see Mathew smiling at me griping my shoulder.

_You've done your part, it's time to let go_

I close my eyes and everything seems like it's going in slow motion. I look around and see Mathew in front of the living quarters smiling at me then walking inside. I go to walk forward as well but remember where I am.

I come back to reality see how close I am and as i'm about to hit I scream at the top of my lungs, which hurts like hell. Not for my friends. Not for Mathew. But for myself because I realize that all this time I could have let go of Mathew but I was too selfish to realize that now.

And that is what makes me crash into the TOU HQ. Not because of orders but because I want to do something right for once in my miserable life i've had without Mathew. I want to be free of this guilt and join my friend

One

Last

Time


End file.
